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Swedish PM: Sweden is not a safe haven for terrorists

BRUSSELS, June 27 (KUNA) -- Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, Monday appeared to appease Turkey to lift its objection against her country joining NATO due to terrorism concerns.
"Sweden condemns terrorism in strongest terms and is committed to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," she told a press conference after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels this evening.
"Our stance regarding (Kurdish) PKK is crystal clear. It is listed as a terror organization in the European Union and regarded as such by Sweden," she stressed.
Andersson said that Sweden' terrorism legislation "is undergoing its biggest overhaul in thirty years," and stresses that Sweden will not be a safe haven for terrorists." She said that Sweden together with Finland in May applied for NATO membership and that their application received "very broad" support.
Noting that consensus within NATO is required for their application to mover forward, she said that Turkey has raised some questions regarding Sweden and Finland's applications.
"Our ambitions is to come to an understanding on the raised issues," she said.
Referring to a meeting of senior officials from Finland, Sweden, NATO and Turkiye at NATO headquarters in Brussels earlier today, she said she hoped that "this dialogue can be successfully concluded in the near future, ideally before the (NATO) summit." Turkiye, a longstanding member of NATO, has voiced objections to the membership bids of the two EU member states, criticizing them for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups like the PKK.
On his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the joint press conference that the security concerns of all Allies must be taken into account as part of the NATO accession process and that Turkiye's concerns "are legitimate and must be addressed." Speaking in Brussels at the eve of the NATO summit to begin in Madrid tomorrow, he said "we are now working together on an agreement between Sweden, Finland, and our Ally Turkiye, to further address security concerns, including around arms exports and the fight against terrorism." (end) nk.mb